The boys 10 & under county cup team made a trip to Chichester, Sussex on the 28th and 29th May to take on four teams in their round robin box who were Surrey, Sussex, Dorset and Hampshire & Isle of Wight. The Kent team consisted of a very strong team of boys who were Hugo Coquelin, Ulrich Nienaber, Timmy Viding and Indio Isted.
On the first day we came up against Surrey and Sussex who were two of the toughest opponents. Our standards had to be high from the very beginning in three singles matches followed by a doubles and a doubles shoot out if it ended up 2-2.
The first match was against Surrey with all three singles matches on at the same time. Hugo Coquelin was number 1 and like Andy Murray in the Davis Cup showed a very high standard of tennis dominating from the outset winning in straight sets. Ulrich Nienaber was our number 2 and came up against a very strong player and lost in straight sets. Timmy Viding our number 3 had won the first set and was looking good but then a strong come back from the opponent allowed them to win in three sets. So it all came down to the doubles with Hugo and Timmy playing together. The match was very tight with some great rallies involving all the shots in the game but in the end Surrey won 5-4 5-4. The final result against Surrey was 1-3.
Our next opponents Sussex was also challenging. The order of the team stayed the same with Hugo winning at number 1, Ulrich recovered from his first match and came through with a fine performance to win in straight sets. Timmy narrowly lost in three sets in his match. After the singles we were 2-1 up so we had to win the doubles to beat Sussex. This time we had Hugo and Ulrich playing together and a very good performance with their groundstrokes and in particular volleys got them through in three sets. The final result of that match was 3-1.
The next day were up against Dorset and Hampshire and we knew that every rubber counted to give us some hope of going through. We also had to rely on Sussex to bring a strong result against Surrey.
Against Dorset and Hampshire we won 4-0 with Indio Isted (Justin Bieber) more involved playing singles and doubles. The Kent boys really showed their dominance against these two teams.
The big match of the day was between Sussex and Surrey where we were depending on Sussex to win 3-1. After some very entertaining, competitive play with some very close three set matches, Surrey were winning after the singles 2-1 and was enough to see them through. Sussex fought well in the doubles and won in the end 3-2.
Surrey were 1st, Kent were 2nd and Sussex 3rd. It came down to one rubber between Kent and Surrey. Congratulations went to Surrey who also became national champions two weeks later. The Kent boys overall showed a very high performance and are capable of competing against any county in the country. Hugo, Ulrich, Timmy and Indio all have lots of qualities about them on and off the court and I wish them the best in the future on yellow ball.
Simon Dahdi
Kent Boys 10 & Under Captain